Bonded Summoner

Valtor floated in front of the conquest table, his large armor and flowing robes looming over it. Amara was beside him, the magical tome looking over her allies fondly.

The various Hearthtribe leaders were present, Morwen and Bedwyr, Seamus, Rookard, and Vesuvius.

Timone and Dahlia were present, and so were Takoda and Grayson. Then, Nadessa sat proudly in the corner with her larger father, Drysander.

Berri was talking to him, and Rhia was asking questions as well. They hadn’t had much time to meet with the various Elysians as they were taken away from the previous victory party so rapidly.

Yiming and Longwei were at the Conquest Table, looking over the map.

If Valtor could smile, Jake knew he would be. The scholarly armor looked over the liveliness of the room, and finally spoke.

“If I can have everyone’s attention. I understand for many of you, this will not be your first Raid. However, I think it’s important to go over everything, so we can make the proper plans for the best possible outcome.”

While the air was festive and positive before, everyone nodded gravely. The Dungeon Raid was vital for the world’s Trial.

Valtor continued, “We are now at 90% Conquest. What this means is, even if we do almost nothing, we shall win–it’s a near certainty. The number of Rifts the enemy may spawn is minimal. With the number of Adventurers we have and can have, we can take them out as quickly as they are created with ease.”

Amara bobbed in the air. “That’s right. In a sense, we’ve already won. By taking on the Dungeon Raid, we open ourselves to risk. Just why would we do this?”

Valtor’s voice was solemn. “While those of the Framework can be revived, hundreds of thousands of lives were ruined or ended due to the enemy’s evil. We can never get them back. However, we can take back some of what was lost–by taking potential from the great enemy. Both for ourselves, but also for the future generations of those that live on Highlands.”

Rookard’s expression showed he was particularly interested in this, an almost wicked look on his face. Jake thought if he had the option, he’d run out of the room to take the fight to the enemy right away. Rookard asked, “How does it do that?”

Amara’s body opened and the pages flipped, showing a page with a picture of a warrior. It showed a list of parameters that looked a lot like Jake’s status sheet and a list of skills, with many of them going up or evolving.

She answered, “The Dungeon Raid functions much like the personal Trials. Depending on your performance, the Framework helps by boosting your potential. A boost to your class results, your skills evolving or improving all at once. As an example, for many, evolving or advancing a skill from Advanced Level 5 to Expert Level 1 could take years of study and practice, but a good performance here will see your skill advancing to the next Tier immediately, the Framework rewarding you at your Tier Up.”

Jake realized that this was essentially what happened to him and Ophelia back when they completed their Trial. Their skills evolved and he improved to the next Tier in many aspects. It likely saved him an entire year worth of training to actually progress those skills.

Amara’s pages flipped once more, showing a planet, with various energies wafting over it from the Yggdrasil. In particular, it showed the core being enhanced or absorbing these.

Valtor added, “Then, depending on the World’s overall performance in the Dungeon Raid, it will claim potential for the entire world. Energy will be supplied by Tartarus and the Framework itself, to enhance the World Core. Normally, it would take tens of thousands of years for a world core to increase in quantity and quality to reach the next Tier. Some of the Tier 1 worlds that perform well enough when they win the Raid, gain enough to move immediately to the 2nd.”

Nadessa sighed. “Our people had done well, but we hadn’t quite managed that. It was a close thing. Even if we did, the world was to be lost. It was beyond the point of no return.”

Morwen noted, “Our world was close as well, though we were held back a little by…disharmony, as you may call it. The elites in the Prime Instance were not only filled with the Emberborn, and there were many areas we did not work well together.”

Jake and his wives were already familiar with this to an extent, but Berri as always low on attention span. She asked, “Prime whatsit?”

Valtor answered, “The Prime Instance. The way the Dungeon Raid is set up, any number of Battlegroups can take on the Dungeon Raid. Each Battlegroup will have its own instance, completely separate and balanced based on those that enter.”

Amara continued, “However, success or failure is primarily decided by the Prime Instance. The rest can be taken on for their personal potential, as well as winning more for their world. It counts for and acts similar to a personal Trial.”

Yiming nodded. “This is important for both a world and any guild. Personal, or individual Trials, have the largest success rate for most classes, and are the standard practice in the Alliance. Parties entering a Trial together are just more risky, even if they could earn more potential for themselves. However, the Dungeon Raid is the maximum balance of potential for reward and risk, and on a global scale. Should the Alliance win, it could gain thousands of major successes, almost as if the winning instances completed their Trial as a full party or better.”

To some extent, this would help make up for the fact that few of the beastkin took on their Tier 0 Trials. Many did, perhaps hundreds in total. But due to the time constraints, many pushed forward to become Auril Heroes to save and aid their people.

Jake asked, “How much time do we have to prepare?”

Valtor responded with a bit of pride in his voice. “Thanks to Mysticus and Zorina, with such a large lead we can control the map as we desire, limiting any destruction at this scale or difficulty. In theory, we could keep the war going on indefinitely, losing no uninitiated, only triggering the Raid years from now. However, a faster Conquest or victory provides a better overall rating, and thus better rewards.”

Amara added, “Thus, we think a one-month timeframe is best, in order to take the most potential for the world from the enemy. This allows the beastkin enough time to raise their levels using Incursions, and the few Rifts that do spawn. They must be over level 15 to even participate, and really should be above level twenty to get the maximum benefit. The instance is balanced upon the average level of the participants.”

Blood nodded. “So, now the discussion must move to how the beastkin of Highlands, Hearthtribe, and our allies, Warrior Brotherhood, can gain the most benefit.”

Longwei laughed. “That’s right, Blood! We look forward to cooperating with you.”

Jake was a little moved, as he thought about the potential Battlegroups for each instance. “It’s only been a short time, but we’ve already gathered such diverse and outstanding allies. Mixing Emberborn and their servants, Warrior Brotherhood, Hearthtribe and beastkin of Highlands, Elysians and even Eternum would help each instance have well-balanced, capable Battlegroups.”

Morwen smiled at Jake from beneath her veil. “The Divine saw fit to aid our people with meeting one another. They hope that together, we will accomplish much. We’ll do our best to meet their expectations.”

Bedwyr added, “We have found a great home, one that welcomes and appreciates our people, despite our differences. We will continue to fight for those that value our presence, that would come to our aid if we’re in need.”

Jake asked, “How are you doing on that–finding a home? The reports tell us the nethril has been building up rapidly in some locations.”

“We were hoping to visit the frozen tundra up north soon. We shall wait and assist with magical research and practice our coordination for the raid, but it seems the many nethril servants may be better off staying there to increase their strength. My people may benefit from spending time there as well.”

The talks then became a crafting discussion. Fhesiah would focus on her alchemy for a while, to try to keep up with the demands of making pills that actually aided Auril Heroes in their personal improvement.

It appeared the many spriggons had managed to start bringing back valuable resources from deep within the jungles. While Harmony Peaks was the peak of life, there were various pockets all over the wilderness that produced powerful herbs over time.

When the plants aged, they built up auril and condensed it. Similar to how ginseng could build up secondary metabolites and have more and more health benefits as it did, the same was true of the rare herbs and plants across Highlands with auril.

The many herbalists training under Fhesiah, and especially herself, could condense this down into a powerful pill for an Auril Hero’s consumption. The spriggons could enhance the speed of growth, but what they could do was limited.

The same could be said about their various auril woods. The aged trees would have built up massive amounts of life energy and vitality, and thus were sturdier when used to make weaponry.

Much of what the beastkin used currently were either auril beast bones, or from some farmed saplings and trees they used to craft furniture and other trade goods. Only the clan heads would have what would be Tier 1 woods, passed down from generation to generation, for their equipment.

Jake smiled at all their preparations. “There is a lot of work to craft the armor and weaponry, and a lot that needs to be enchanted to give our people their best chances. Some additional training so that people can maximize their skills will be paramount. A month is not a long time.”

Valtor nodded. “We will all do our best. Now that the Rifts are to be handled by various Adventurers, Hearthtribe and its allies can focus on their personal progression. We will also prepare for the worst, but not because we have doubts about your success.”

Ophelia frowned. “Then why? By the worst, you mean prepare to hole people up in the defense of the [Monster Tide]?”

The Monster Tide was what would happen if the Prime Instance failed within the Dungeon Raid. Not only would much Conquest Progress be lost all at once, but the Rift spawning rates and other aspects of the war would be tweaked.

Valtor laughed. “Because, it prepares us for the next stage of the war, for future Contests! We know a War Trial is coming, and what better way to prepare than to get ready for that? The same preparations for the Monster Tide will help prepare the beastkin of Highlands, initiated or not. It will help if the world is contested once more, or we’re involved in one of those difficult Challenges.”

Building walls and defenses for each of their tribal villages and cities was already taking place, but taking them to the next level would be required for future conflicts.

Infrastructure and industry were needed to be built from the ground up so that they could influence the war in various ways, and Valtor would guide them to do so by providing diverse incentives.

Ophelia looked over the CP total within her Menu. “With how much CP the Guild has, we can upgrade all our training and crafting facilities to the maximum. These will continue to be useful well into the next Tier.”

Amara’s pages flipped to diagrams outlining the various arena facilities. The number of people that could fight like Ophelia and Jake did on their date at the same time would be increased, and there appeared to be other benefits as well.

“That’s right. We will spend the majority of the Guild’s funds on these for now, and for the future. Seamus’s Arena is the perfect training ground, we shall expand the facilities. Us Eternum will provide additional instruction there, to help people and teams work on their skills and party cohesion.”

Small benefits were gained thanks to the facilities, such as the Framework providing slightly larger nudges to improve their skills more rapidly. The increase was relatively small, but over a month it would certainly build up.

Then, there were areas for recovery like the Hearth in Jake’s Refuge, where people would heal or restore their resources much more rapidly.

Seamus looked more than a little excited. “Excellent! With this, our warriors can train much more effectively. With the amount of space we have, we can even practice against bosses. Timone, it has been a long time since we fought. I hope you’ll join us for the training.”

Timone chuckled. “You can count on it. We will sharpen our claws and the claws of our brethren. You won’t be able to keep me and my mates away from there.”

Dahlia smiled. “Tell me you’ll be joining us, daughter? I would love to face Clan Hart in battle.”

Tanda’s tail was wagging. “You’re on, mother! We have much to practice.”

Ophelia was excited about the challenge. “You bet!”

Longwei laughed boisterously. “This will be great! I look forward to battling in this expanded arena. Our brothers and war maidens look forward to improving their strength in arms with these special facilities.”

Yiming nodded. “Do let us know if there is any way we can contribute to the facilities. The beastkin are excellent with their weapons, but our people represent a history of thousands of years of finesse with our blades, having trained with various masters–each of which passed on their skills from generation to generation. There is much to be learned from each other.”

Jake had learned that Warrior Brotherhood was from one of the many worlds that Guan Yu and his brothers had liberated. They established a warrior culture, planting the seed of a strong warrior mindset centered around brotherhood, responsibility, and loyalty.

From what Jake understood, a Guild primarily operated within a single Tier. When the guild ascended as its members did, it could only directly operate on worlds of that Tier.

This affected how knowledge could be disseminated, from magical technology to special equipment. There was a relatively small grace period during the ascension, but subguilds would be established during this time.

A sort of snapshot of a Guild’s knowledge and technology would spread to these lower guilds to allow them to influence the war across the multiverse, increasing technology and skills slowly over time within the Sector.

It was a minor passing of the torch that mostly focused the war effort on the worlds of higher Tiers. They were more valuable to the overall conflict, even if the lives on them should be equal.

Jake said to everyone, “We all have our tasks, and we know the goal. We will prepare for the Dungeon Raid, both preparing ourselves and others. Just one major battle left, and Highlands will be free.”

Blood added, “And Hearthtribe will grow strong enough to face Tartarus all over this Sector. After being on Ariminum, I think it’s clear that dozens of beastkin and Elysians will be enough to turn the war around–just like we did.”

Jake couldn’t help but be a bit excited about the idea. With their auril javelins and arrows, skill at arms and their special auril energy, each auril hero represented a powerful, well-rounded combatant.

If his Battlegroup had just five or ten auril heroes for their Fortress Assault, the first two stages would have been a complete cakewalk. It was easy for him to imagine the auril heroes and their mates aiding a Battlegroup in fighting Rifts would have an amazing success rate.

With the thousands of Hearthtribe members, they could influence the war on perhaps a dozen worlds at once. Highlands would be their first world, but they could end up owning many others through Conquest.

Ariminum would be next, but they would send the beastkin to many other worlds to win them back from Tartarus’s grip. Hearthtribe would expand across their Sector, and whether they won worlds back or not, they would be a positive change people needed.